New LLCU leader determined to launch liberal Third Way for next elections

Is it possible, in ten years, to scramble up from the lowest rung on the social ladder, a blue-collar worker at Vilnius Irrigation Construction Company, to the highest rung in the field, that of minister of the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development? It is, certainly, an impossible mission for most, but 49-year-old Algis Caplikas, a graduate at the Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute, engineer and surveyor by profession, has done exactly that. Some who begrudge his high-flying career may  point to his timely admission to the once trendy Lithuanian Liberal and Center Union (LLCU). However, if not for his sharp thinking, exclusive exuberance and infectious personal charm, the ascent, even critics agree, would have been highly unlikely. Recently elected as chairman of the LLCU, Caplikas is determined to make the change he has promised to all – bring the party to new heights, pouring in a good deal of liberalism in Lithuania’s political and social life, and even more – unite Lithuanian liberal parties for the parliamentary elections next year. The Baltic Times sat down with Caplikas for this interview.

Most of Lithuania’s traditional parties see their chairmen at their wheel for many years. Some, like the Labor Party and Order and Justice, are even considered to be one-man parties, as their chairmen, Viktoras Uspaskichas and Rolandas Paksas, have been heading them from their establishment. In that sense, the ruling LLCU seems to be an exception, seeing its third chairman in just five years. Is that due to a lack of true leaders within the party?
In terms of democracy, replacement of a party leader is an invigorating process for the party itself. Obviously, Lithuanian parties have different traditions and understandings as to what true leadership pertains to. To speak about the Lithuanian political system in a broader sense, I find it bad that some political parties are ruled by the same men for many years. I call these kinds of parties pyramid-like, or militarized organizations. You rightly pinpointed them. Our party staves off this kind of inner organization and will remain a collective party, as it has been all these years. To answer your question, I would say we have too many leaders. The fact that we were able to choose a new party leader in the recent party congress without any altercations shows our unity, maturity and readiness to strive for new goals. I feel a mounting obligation to satisfy the expectations that the congress has set.

Some political analysts maintain that your predecessor, Gintautas Babravicius, was lacking charisma in unifying and reinvigorating the party. Do you agree? Do you think you have all the needed characteristics to be the leader?
I do not want to somehow evaluate my predecessor. He took over the wheel of the party at a very challenging time, when others wanted to tear it apart. However, we remained on the stage despite all setbacks, and it shows our inner strength. The results of the late municipal elections illustrate the strength – the LLCU was fifth in the country, according to the votes. My biography of the last twenty years is about being a leader. It shows that people trust me. If they had not trusted me, I would have not been minister three time and deputy chairman of Seimas [Parliament]. Life itself will show whether people were right to elect me as the chairman of the LLCU. However, I have been within it not for a few days, but for a very long time. I know how the party system works. And, let me admit, I am up to the challenge of the chairmanship.

What goals is the party creating for you? What goals are you determined to take on?
Well, obviously all political parties are already looking, eyeing Parliamentary elections next year. So we do, too. For it, the party and I personally are determined to form the so-called Third Way Movement, which would aim at uniting both Lithuanian liberal parties and liberal social movements. The twenty years of our independent history have been tinged with only two colors – conservatives’ blue on the right and social democrats’ red on the left. And look what we have seen for twenty years with only them at the wheel of the country – mounting problems in the economy, politics and social life. It is urgent to turn the shaky boat to the third way. Former Lithuanian President Valdus Adamkus, back in 1998, said it in other words, stressing the necessity to have a free man and, as a result, a strong state. Basically, it is the essence of liberalism. Unfortunately, the vision has never been embodied. Until now, other parties, like the Labor Party and Order and Justice, throughout the years have attempted to assume the third way. However, they have completely disappointed people. So I am here to say: give the true liberals the right to take you along the way. Today Lithuania needs it badly.

However, the Third Way, uniting the LLCU and Lithuanian Liberal Sajudis (LLS), is of a life-and-death matter to the LLCU first, whose support has been at a record low lately. All political analysts agree that if you do not manage to find ways to merge with the more popular Lithuanian Liberal Sajudis before the Parliamentary election next year, your party may be off the grand political stage. Have you started speaking to the LLS already?
Well, first, the modern history of Lithuanian politics shows that the political analysts you like to refer to tend to be awfully mistaken when it comes to predicting an election outcome. So, in that sense, I am not particularly worried about their predictions. Second, our party has long been trying to talk the LLS into a merger. However, its leader, Eligijus Masiulis, has been extremely stubborn so far. I presume that Masiulis, as well as some other LLS leaders, see us as some inferiors who may hinder their political ambitions. However, what they need to do is to take a good look at the results of the recent municipal elections, in which we have scored much better. If the LLS leader continues to be tough and gnarly, he risks himself ending up outside Seimas. I want to repeat myself that having a strong united liberal party, which I call the Third Way, is of crucial importance to our country. Most European countries usually have a right-wing, a left-wing party and something in the center.

You did not answer whether you spoke to the LLS leader on getting united after the LLCU chairman elections…
I did speak about it to the LLS leader, before and after the municipal elections. However, in vain, as Masiulis only lows like a bull so far. If he wants me to beg him on my knees to unite both parties, I am ready to do that for the sake of a strong, united, liberal party in the country.

Speaking in a broader sense, do you believe that the ideas of liberalism can be popular in Lithuania, a conservative country?
I am convinced that the ideas are popular in Lithuania. Our people are largely dismayed over the results of the rule of the right- and left-wing parties, all over prevailing state-level phobias and inferiority complexes. Regrettably, throughout twenty years of independence, Lithuania has always been in a war mode – entangled in heated altercations among businessmen and politicians, grass-roots and the political “cream,” pensioners and the employed, journalists and politicians, and so on. Is it a normal state of a country? No, it is not. It has been this way because the state affairs have been put all the time ahead of the man. As liberals, we want to do it the way it ought to be – the man goes first, and the state goes second. Only free and happy people can create a prosperous state. If this happens, we probably will stop speaking of Lithuania as a country with mostly state-supported people - the folks will be able to support themselves. Sadly, until now, the Lithuanian conservatives and social democrats are preaching just the opposite – we know what a man needs. No, sirs, you are wrong: the man himself knows what he needs most.
 
However, despite the ideological disparities, you have been with the conservative Motherland Union-Christian Democrat Party in the same boat for the third consecutive year, often repudiating any liberalism in the government.
Those circumstances upon which we ended up in the ruling coalition are well known – the global crisis urged us all to address it immediately, maybe renouncing some ideological principles. However, I disagree that the LLCU, as you assert, is repudiating liberalism. Even under the tough economic circumstances, we managed to stick to it, for example, lowering resident income tax to 15 percent, introducing a health insurance tax, which is in line with the liberalism doctrine. As the liberal minister of the Ministry of Health in PM Kubilius’ government, I have taken on some serious steps in liberalizing our health care, unbundling the large similar-operating medical institutions. Raimundas Palaitis, another liberal minister, has carried out the reform of counties, simplifying their administration. Gintaras Steponavicius, the liberal minister of the Ministry of Education and Science, has performed significant reforms in our educational system. Have you heard of any reforms carried out in the government by other non-liberal ministers? I have not. It shows that, even being in the conservative-led government, we managed largely to stick to liberalism. The conservative-led ministries, as well as the Ministry of Communications, led by the LLS leader Masiulis, are involved substantively in one thing – sharing of state-budget money.

Nevertheless, you are right in the sense that we had to compromise with the conservatives on some hot issues in the Cabinet. It was simply unavoidable. If liberals had had 40 parliament seats in the Seimas and the conservatives 20 seats, the decisions would have been quite different. I hope that liberals will have 40-45 seats in the next tenure, which would allow us to carry out our liberal program.

I have no doubt that heading the ministry has paved your way to the nomination as the LLCU chairman. Do you see continuation of the reforms in the Ministry of Health?
I do. Maybe the speed of the reforms I had started has slowed down, adapting to the political reality and the moods in our society and media. Nevertheless, they go on, as they are crucial for our health system, which is probably the most complicated field and which has not seen significant changes since the restoration of independence.

You sound upbeat, but the prospects of your party just do not look very good right now. How are you going to strengthen the party?
I believe that we will succeed in talking the LLS into uniting both liberal parties. I am convinced the merger movement, the Third Way, could come up with a very strong electoral program, and win at least 40 seats in the parliament. That, as I mentioned before, would allow us to implement our own program. I admit that, with Arturas Zuokas, the LLCU’s ex-chairman, involved in different shady situations, the party started losing its strength, which eventually led to the establishment of the other liberal party, Lithuanian Liberal Sajudis. However, the LLCU has been on the rise ever since. For example, in the last Seimas elections, our party received 64,000 votes countrywide, whereas in the last municipality elections, we already gathered 72,000 votes. The rise, along with our strong structure and leadership, give me optimism and confidence. I really disdain sociological surveys, as well as fortune-telling and witchery. No prediction of an election’s results has ever been accurate in Lithuania. I am sure the Third Way would beat all predictions.

To be honest, I hear the name, Third Way, for the first time. I have not come across it in any media until now. Are you officially starting off your election campaign? Is the catchy name a bait for the LLS?
Well, I have just been elected as chairman of the Lithuanian Liberal and Center Union, therefore, I have not been yet asked much about my visions. However, within the LLCU, there is a strong conviction that the two-party merger, giving people a third choice, could carry us far. I am sure the LLS leaders, including Masiulis, understand that.

There are rumors that Zuokas, present Vilnius mayor, wishes to re-enter the LLCU. Would you like to bring him on board if he expresses such a wish?
It was his own decision to leave the party. I will not try to talk him into coming back to our ranks. It is up to him to decide whether he wants it.

Would the Third Way to-be stand good chances in the political landscape, considering the huge disappointment of the population about all parties?
People are disappointed about the parties that have been ruling Lithuania all these years. When people see that they matter most in the state, which is the liberals’ focus, they will support the party.